Posts Tagged ‘loneliness’

Loneliness, long linked to mental and physical diseases as well as a shorter life span, is contagious and can spread among groups, a new study finds.

According to the study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, lonely people transmit their sad feelings to the people around them, causing them to become lonely and isolated from society.

women are reported to be more likely to become infected.

“When people feel lonely, they tend to be shyer, more anxious, more hostile, more socially awkward and lower in self-esteem,”

As people become lonely, they become less trustful and the cycle of their friends therefore becomes smaller. Societies similarly have a natural tendency to shed these lonely individuals.

Such reinforcing effects induce other individuals to act in negative ways and cause the spread of the feeling known as emotional contagion among those with whom the lonely individual interacts with.